USML 12

Orality and Literacy in the Middle Ages: Essays on a Conjunction and its Consequences in Honour of D.H. Green, ed. Mark Chinca and Christopher Young (Turnhout, 2005: USML 12), x+259 pp. ISBN 2-503-51451-0.

“The most important part of the title of this book is the word ‘and’ “. These words form the memorable conclusion to D.H. Green’s study Medieval Listening and Reading; they encapsulate how, in the Middle Ages, orality and literacy are not to be considered as two separate and largely unrelated cultures or modes of textual transmission, but as elements in a mutual interplay and interpenetration. In this volume, scholars from Britain, Germany and North America follow Green’s insistence on viewing medieval orality and literacy in their conjunction, opening up new areas for investigation as well as reformulating old problems. The languages and literatures covered include English, Latin, French, Occitan and German, and the essays span the whole of the period from the early Middle Ages through to the fifteenth century.

Contents:

Mark Chinca and Christopher Young, “Orality and Literacy in the Middle Ages: A Conjunction and its Consequences”

Katherine O’Brien o’Feeffe, “Listening to the Scenes of Reading: King Alfred’s Talking Prefaces”